1994 Passat VR6 Starting Problems

[jdandison]

Hi all, new to the board, hoping someone can help!

I have a 1994 Passat VR6 5spd. I bought it Dec 16, 04, from a little old lady who was the only owner. She put about 74K miles on it. Since Dec, with 91K milles now, my Passat has run wonderfully, needing only regular maintainance and a set of tires with only one exception: Starting. My battery went dead about a month ago, we bought a new one and came to find that the replacement was about 4inches longer than the battery that was in the car. After a few confusing phone calls, we found that the woman who owned the car previously was sold the wrong battery, thus giving us the smaller one. Regardless, the battery in there now is only about a month old and the correct one for my car.
Ever since I bought the car, when you turn the key to the "Run" position and then push it on to "Start", it always seemed to hesitate a little bit, and turning the key harder made it start without any trouble. Today, I drove about 50 miles in it, everything was normal, and got to my parents house, where it refuses to start. Turning the key to the start position dims the panel, as usual, but it never even tries to turn over, the starter never turns. There is no noise, nothing at all. We tried tapping the starter with a hammer, still nothing. It's rather odd because I've never had a starter just stop like that, and I kickstarted it and it ran for about 20min fine, thus eliminating the alternator or battery from being the problem. The only thing non-stock on this car is the radio, which was already replaced by the woman, a Sony Xplod CDX-M800 (Pretty sure that's the model, 52wattx4channel). I checked all of my fuses and they're all good. I figure I've narrowed it down to one of three things:

1. Solenoid
2. Starter
3. Switch

If there's anything I've neglected to check, please let me know!

Tomorrow morning I figured I'd take it to an auto electrical shop to see if it is the starter.

Thanks in advance for anything anyone has to offer!

-jdandison
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[jdandison]

Well, as is typical in central NC, I got a call about three hours after I dropped my car off @ a local place. "We ain't got no one with no volkswagen know-how." Doesn't seem as though they have much "know-how" period, but anyway, all they could tell me was "you've got an unknown electrical problem." Thanks. Really, a whole lot. That really helps. Anyway, I figure a dealer should know the problem?

-jd

[onthepath]

Originally Posted by jdandison

Well, as is typical in central NC, I got a call about three hours after I dropped my car off @ a local place. "We ain't got no one with no volkswagen know-how." Doesn't seem as though they have much "know-how" period, but anyway, all they could tell me was "you've got an unknown electrical problem." Thanks. Really, a whole lot. That really helps. Anyway, I figure a dealer should know the problem?

-jd

"We ain't gots no no how, but you sure gots a purty mouth!" Hey...its your ignition switch. I'm getting mine done tommorrow. Do the switch AND the mechanical part because sometimes the new parts don't quite mate up and then your keep getting a burned out starter!

You SHOULD find somebody with some know how on this one...

Its a common problem

cheers

TG

[jdandison]

Yah, I took it to the dealer, got a relatively good deal on it because they replaced the oil cooler and did my 90K mile service...with the ignition switch for 524.87. So I figure it was worth it. Thanks for the info.

-jd

[scnvsleep]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but would the starter switch also cause the fuse pump fuse to blow intermittently i.e anywhere from 3 to 120 miles per fuse?

[Denny G]

Originally Posted by scnvsleep

I don't want to hijack this thread, but would the starter switch also cause the fuse pump fuse to blow intermittently i.e anywhere from 3 to 120 miles per fuse?

Jumping on your jump - hope you found the trouble by now though.
Here is my observation FWIW: Fuses blow when the current draw is too large. The pump(s) on this line must be drawing too much current, meaning one of them is the problem or there is a high resistance connection(s).

Try putting an ammeter in the circuit at the fuse to see how much current is being drawn. You could then try to power the pump locally with a motorcycle battery or a long line. If the current reading remains the same, the connections must be OK. See what I mean? The reason I suggest powering the pump locally is that it is very hard to use the wiring harness, because the ammeter has to go in series with the power, not in parallel across it, as when taking a voltage ready. What should the pump draw? I don't know.

Denny G

[lithuanian2]

i think its ecu computer , i have a lot parts for 1994 vr6 5 spd